Oil Change Question 2010 Honda Accord

[firefighter0629]

My brother has changed the oil 6 times in 52,000 miles on his 2010 Honda Accord. I will be driving it for the next 6 months for free, then I may buy it since his lease will be up. I am no mechanic but I do believe in Synthetic Motor Oil and change intervals of 5,000 - 7,500 miles. He was running conventional motor oil every 8,500 +/-.

What can I do to bring this engine back to life?
Can I run an additive?
Can I do 1,000 mile drain and fills? For how long?

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Thanks

 

[donnyj08]

Just run a good synthetic oil and filter at the intervals you run, that will clean/keep the engine clean.

 

[simple_gifts]

Quote:

What can I do to bring this engine back to life?


What evidence is there that it is not healthy?

 

[termigator]

Originally Posted By: simple_gifts
Quote:

What can I do to bring this engine back to life?


What evidence is there that it is not healthy?


My thoughts exactly. If your brother was going by the oil life monitor, the engine should be in great shape. I never changed the oil on my wife's 07' Accord (currently at 130,000 miles)until the monitor was flashing 5% (usually between 7k-7.5k) and the engine still looks new (peaked through the crankcase opening).

 

[suspiciousmind]

I'd go with a run of pennzoil ultra for about 7k and then mobil1 afe from there.

 

[firefighter0629]

I have no evidence at all... I am just a little picky about these oil change intervals. He did follow the oil life indicator so maybe I am over thinking everything. I would just hate to buy it and then something horrible happen!

 

[roadrunner1]

My future daughter-in-law drives an '04 Honda CRV, a couple of years ago I offered to do her oil changes and when I got out her owners manual Honda recommends 10,000mi. OCI's with 5w-20.
No mention of "synthetic required", and also filter changes every other OC.

This model is before Honda incorporated oil life monitors into this model, and I see no problem following the owners manual, which I have done since providing her oil changes.

On a side note;
her dad had stressed the importance of "3 months of 3,000mi OCI", which I didn't want to get into the middle of with her.
I politely showed her the manual and we went from there.

Honda engines are notoriously very easy on oil, so I wouldn't worry about the intervals you mentioned.

 

[TomYoung]

Originally Posted By: firefighter0629
I have no evidence at all... I am just a little picky about these oil change intervals. He did follow the oil life indicator so maybe I am over thinking everything. I would just hate to buy it and then something horrible happen!


Based on what you have told us, the likelihood of "something horrible" happening is minimal. It is a great time to move to synthetic. I am responsible for a number of Hondas and an Acura and have had great results (tested results) with OLM changes, and in the case of my Acura TL 10,000 mile intervals using Castrol Edge (both), PU, and Mobil 1. My preference is Edge with Titanium. I like the pricy OCOD Fram filters, and I look for price at Walmart. Good luck!

 

[The Critic]

I see a 2008 CRV occasionally that goes about 11k before the Maintenance Minder shows 15%. Of course, there are "rumors" on the internet stating that the longer you go, the more that your risk the VTC and chain stretch issues...but the correlation has not been completely proven.

 

[Coprolite]

Is this the 6 or 4 cylinder? The first thing I would do is run pop a bottle of Techron (the smaller Walmart 10 oz version is just about right) and fill up the tank. I used to be able to get 12-15 gallons into the tank depending on how empty I let it go. The Techron wil probably do the most to rejuvenate the motor if indeed anything is subpar. From the sounds of things, it is probably fine. In any case, I like to run a tank of the techron through each car that is mostly around town driving to allow a good time soak on all parts right before each oil change. The timing is not that vital, but it would allow any dirt that might get in the oil from the techron cleanup to be replaced with nice fresh oil.

This is by no means an aggressive step and in the worse case scenario lighten your wallet by the cost of the Techron. By the way, for some manufacturers (e.g. BMW), this is the recommended practice.

I used Pennzoil Ultra, Pennzoil Platinum and Mobil1 AFE in my Accord and TSX. I personally prefer the Pennzoil Ultra API SN at this point in time.

 

[Brons2]

The 4 cylinder model is very easy on oil, the engine is probably fine with the intervals you have observed.

I have my dad's 2010 Accord 2.4 at the moment and it's had all OLM based oil changes and it runs perfect.